New House, Old Friends

I had a great time this weekend because we through a little party for my old friend Tina, who recently moved to town and just had her birthday.

One of the reasons we chose this house was because it was such a wonderful place to entertain, and this was one of our first real adult dinner parties.

We had a bunch of friends, old and new, come for dinner and I made a fantastic (if I do say so myself!) raspberry/chocolate ganache cake. Tina made a Moroccan Veggie Stew and I picked up some tandoori bread at the middle eastern market. Suuuuch a good dinner.

It was so nice to have a grown up party. I see some more in our future!

Snow in San Diego

With my parents visiting from Florida, we have been looking for "touristy" things to do. They have been here a few times before and we have been finding ourselves doing the same things over and over again.

Well, this year, Ethan has been asking us to "take him to the snow"! And even though it is a long drive, we thought, "why not!?" My parents don't live in Ohio anymore, and there are some lovely snowy mountains within a couple hours drive.

So we all jumped in the van this weekend and drove up to Idyllwild, which is a gorgeous, foresty town with lots of sweet shops and good restaurants and a nice hometown feel.

We had to hunt for the perfect patch of forest, but when we found it, we all rolled out, built us a snowman and had a good old fashioned snowball fight. The kids LOVED it! Then on to a yummy dinner and shopping before heading home.

With the country bearing the weight of this stormy winter, I have to say we are BLESSED by living in a place where we can go visit the snow when we want to, and then shed our warm clothes and come back home.